Zoom Video Communications Inc has tapped former Facebook security chief Alex Stamos as an adviser and set up an advisory board to improve the privacy and security of its rapidly-growing video-conferencing app amid a global backlash.
The company is facing widespread criticism from users worried about the lack of end-to-end encryption of meeting sessions and "zoombombing", where uninvited guests crash into meetings.
Taiwan and Germany have put restrictions on its use, while Elon Musk's SpaceX has banned the app.
To address the concerns, Zoom has formed a CISO Council, which includes chief information security officers of HSBC, NTT Data, Procore and Ellie Mae, to discuss about privacy, security and technology issues.
It has also set up a board to advise Chief Executive Officer Eric Yuan on privacy issues. The initial members include security chiefs from VMware Netflix, Uber and Electronic Arts .
One of the key moves was to hire Stamos, who handled the security of Facebook Inc's social media platform until his departure in 2018. He is currently an adjunct professor at Stanford's Freeman-Spogli Institute.
(Reporting by Akanksha Rana and Supantha Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Sriraj Kalluvila) ((akanksha.rana@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780, outside U.S. +91 80 6749 1130; Twitter: @AkankshaRanaa;))
